As every barfly, night owl, drinks connoisseur, bon vivant, sommelier and alcohol aficionado knows, Greece has some badass bartenders.

Besides being raved about online, Greek bars have been persistently taking home awards and ranking as some of the best in the world over the last decade, not to mention that new Greek wine, beer and spirits – from aged tsipouro to vermouth – have been given shelf space at liquor stores both in Greece and abroad, as well as behind bars, for years now. The quality of the bar scenes in Greece’s major cities and tourist destinations is simply undeniable.

Another fact, less visible outside the country but well-documented by local servers, is that with good bartenders come excellent drinkers. It’s true. Bar hoppers who used to order whiskey and coke ten years ago, will now study the cocktail list and the spirits list and debate whether to try a new Japanese whiskey or to go with their regular barrel-aged Negroni.

The latest proof that Greek consumers have embraced the new drinking culture came in the form of statistics retrieved from Google Trends, showing that Greeks google the cocktail Paloma more than any other people in the world.

The Paloma, a tequila-based cocktail said to have been created by late legendary Mexican bartender Don Javier Delgado Corona, doesn’t seem to have much of a connection to Greece. What’s going on? Are Greeks making tequila now? Yes, in fact they are; it’s called Mekila, and is produced from prickly pear on the island of Amorgos. But the main reason for Paloma’s rise to fame in Greece is most likely another product – a pink grapefruit soda from soft drinks company Three Cents.

Owned by bartenders, Three Cents’ highly carbonated soft drinks are intended as mixers, made to not lose their flavor and bubbles by being diluted with ice and alcohol, and the drink that inspired it all, back in 2014, was the Paloma. With a flavor profile that fits the Greek palate perfectly (the most common request for a custom cocktail off the menu is something refreshing, sweet and sour, according to bartender Xavier Misailidis), the Paloma is made with just three ingredients: tequila, lime, and grapefruit soda, so it’s also easy to make at home.

The company discovered that since putting their pink grapefruit soda on the market, Greek searches for the cocktail rose dramatically, passing every other country, and at the end of last summer, as regulations to limit the spread of the coronavirus forced bars to close at midnight, they spiked.

Of course, more advanced cocktails are also being recreated as home bartenders are multiplying. “There are many reasons to mix drinks at home,” says founder of bar tool e-shop barequip.gr, Ioannis Orfanos, who sells everything from soda siphons to aromatic bitters, “like avoiding penalties from breathalyzer tests on the road. But mostly it’s a hobby – although beware it’s not a cheap hobby – which became a bit more popular during the pandemic.” The pandemic, however, was not what sparked it: “People are definitely being inspired by what they’ve seen happening at the bars,” he explains.

Besides the Paloma, Greek searches for “negroni,” “Japanese whiskey,” “spritz,” and even “gin” have also gone up – an encouraging indication to drinkers of taste visiting Greece this year, that while restaurants and bars may currently be closing their doors at 00.30, you can still get a really decent cocktail at the after party.

Note that Paloma is also a Spanish female name, and the name of a popular tourist town in Uruguay. The Google Trends search words referenced here are “cocktail paloma.”